Morning
by TheTotodileDuelist
Summary: In which Misty learns the significance of dental hygiene, Ash wakes up earlier than usual, and I give up on thinking of a better fitting title.


**A/N: Hey, look, a story! No, it's not an update of that ond story I started and never finished! It's a completely different story that will probably not satisfy anyone other than my imagination! I have no idea why I wrote this, but I did it fairly quickly with only two rounds of editing. So, I'm not sure how it turned out. I had a craving to write this. At least that's been taken care of. Maybe I'll come back from the depths of the Internet and resume that other story. Absolutely no promises. I've already broken all of them from before. But I did recently get a job as a journalist for my local paper, which is exciting and makes me want to write all of the time. :D However, most of my time will be taken up training for VGC. My tournament's June 5th in Atlanta. Woop woop! Gotta represent! Last minute training until then! I hope I see some of you there, even though I won't know it. Anyway, this has gotten much too long. You may proceed.**

For some reason, the alarm never went off that morning.

It was just as well, seeing as Misty had fallen asleep on the couch last night, watching a romantic comedy that was far too predictable and enticing for its own good.

The light that shone through the curtains was strong enough to put a frown on the red head's face and got her out of bed in a matter of minutes. Her boyfriend, the usual late sleeper, was up and about, already getting ready for work.

Misty, cranky and now running late, groaned and let herself fall back into bed. Ash, who was much too perky in the other's opinion, tauntingly held a fresh cup of coffee under Misty's nose.

Black with three spoons of sugar. Just the way she liked it. The smell was enough to revive her and set her in motion.

Misty thanked Ash with a good morning kiss on the cheek, set the cup on her dresser, and sped through her morning routine.

Curiously enough, Ash seemed to have disappeared from their bedroom altogether, saving Misty from the troubles of twisting around him as their paths crossed from the closet to the toilet.

Misty was dressed and groomed, and found that she was satisfied as she looked in the mirror at what she had achieved in a record eighteen minutes.

"Mist! We gotta go in two minutes!"

Misty sighed, feeling that she had a long day ahead of her. "Alright! Just enough time for me to brush my teeth, then."

There was a commotion in the living room, where she assumed Ash was lounging as he waited for her, then he was suddenly back in their room, rummaging through a drawer.

Misty shook her head, wondering what she got herself into with this kid.

As she opened the medicine cabinet to retrieve the toothpaste, a small box fell out, landing on the countertop, just next to the sink.

"Ash," she grunted to herself. If she had taken all of three seconds to turn around, she would've seen Ash frozen in place, staring at her with wide eyes as she fondled the box.

But, she did not see any of this, as her mind went into automatic reprimand mode. She was always telling him to keep things organized, especially the medicine cabinet, because it was not efficient to have to search behind mouthwash, band-aids, razors, or superglue (whose presence in the bathroom was still a mystery to her) in order to find the toothpaste in the morning.

Especially on mornings when they ran late.

However, what had fallen out of the cabinet this morning was not familiar to Misty at all. She picked it up and turned it in her hands. It was a small black box. The outside of it felt velvety under her touch. With her toothbrush in one hand and already on its way to her mouth and the other hand still holding the box, she went to call Ash and inquire as to what, exactly, this box was doing in their bathroom.

His name died in her throat as she flicked the box open to reveal a shimmering diamond ring. She coughed, spitting toothpaste foam into the sink, and removed the delicate piece of jewelry from its home.

Her eyes slid toward the bedroom, where Ash was peeking into the bathroom from around the doorframe. As he caught her gaze, he strolled past her, picked up his toothbrush, and set to work on cleaning his teeth.

Misty, still in shock, examined the ring as Ash repeated the cycle of brushing, rinsing, and spitting.

When Ash could whiten his teeth no more, he turned toward his girlfriend and cleared his throat.

Misty jumped at the sound, as if she had forgotten he was even there. She looked up at him with eyes full of question.

"Ah, um. Yea," the ever eloquent Ash Ketchum blurted out.

This did not prompt a response from Misty.

"So," Ash continued. "Do you like it?"

A nod.

"Would you…do you wanna put it on?"

A second nod.

"Does that mean 'yes'?"

A third and final nod.

Ash let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, dropped down on one knee, swiped the ring out of Misty's hands, and placed it on her finger.

Their engagement kiss tasted like the flavors of Misty's spearmint and Ash's bubblegum toothpaste.

They were late for work that morning.

**A/N: I know what you're thinking. More author's notes? What more could I possibly have to say after that unnecessarily long note at the beginning? Well, nothing really. Honestly, I'd just really appreciate some reviews on this; good or bad. Constructive criticism is welcome and encouraged. I want to know if I've still got the potential, ya know? It could make or break my decision to try writing more for this site. Let me know what you thought. :] I know it was just a short little one shot that probably ended much too quickly and had an uninteresting title that should've been remedied but wasn't, but still. Go for that button down there. It wants your cursor inside of it. ;]**


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